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Modules and Improvements
What are Modules? Modules can installed to character to give assistant effects or upgrade the character. The effects of modules only last for one run (lost on permadeath) and need to be reinstalled if one want to have the effects in the next run. What are Improvements? Improvements are permanent upgrades to many aspects. Unlike modules, the upgrades in improvements remain after permadeath. E.g. upgrading Bombs damage makes your bomb deal more damage since then in that save file. However, note that some improvements are upgrades to modules, meaning that upgrading those improvements without installing the corresponding modules does not provide any benefits. It is worth noting that in order to obtain the blueprints of armors and their abilities are locked to Invisibility, Shadow Copy or Energy Impulse, one has to first unlock the corresponding abilities by purchase. How to Get Them? Modules can be installed at installer that locates in the left chamber of the shelter, using emeralds. Improvements can be upgraded/unlocked at factory that locates in the center chamber of the shelter, using emeralds. Modules Details *Improvements that upgrade modules are explained below together with the corresponding modules. Shock Barrier * Installation Cost: 8 emeralds * When character is attacked by an enemy on an adjacent tile, automatically deals damage to the enemy, ignoring the defence ** The damage depends on: *** the energy of the Shock Barrier that refills over time, and *** the upgrade of this module ** If enemies attack with Teleport Strike, Shock Barrier still functions ** If enemies deal 0 damage, Shock Barrier still functions ** If character dodges or blocks the attacks, and no damage like splash dmage from hammer is received, Shock Barrier will not be triggered * Can be upgraded as improvement : Shock Barrier damage Impulse Converter * Installation Cost: 12 emeralds * Generates energy that equals to a percentage of damage that character receives * Can be upgraded as improvement : Impulse Converter power. ** Max. upgrade is 100%, meaning 1 health lost grants 1 energy. However, with increased health/energy cap in the later stages, the conversion percentage is gradually reduced. Extended Battery * Installation Cost: 10 emeralds * Increases energy cap of character * Can be upgraded as improvement : Extended Battery capacity. ** Without any upgrade, at 100% capacity, adds 20 to energy cap. At 700% upgrade, adds 7*20=140 to energy cap. Enemies Detection Sensor * Installation Cost: 4 emeralds * Can be upgraded as improvement : Enemies Detection Sensor power ** Default : Lv.1 Detects enemies within 5 tiles ** Maximum: Lv.2 Sensor blinks if a special enemy is detected * When installed, the Sensor is shown next to the energy gauge. Tapping it tells you the exact number of enemies within 5 tiles. * Color of the Sensor changes according to number of enemies detected * In most cases, invisible enemies can be detected * The sensor can be unstable under Super Speed or Instant Movement effect Ores Detection Sensor * Installation Cost: 6 emeralds * Can be upgraded as improvement : Ores Detection Sensor power ** Initial: Lv.1 Detects ores within 3 tiles ** Maximum: Lv.2 Detects ores within 4 tiles * When installed, the Sensor is shown next to the energy gauge. * Color of the Sensor changes according to the closest ores detected: ** Gold ore: yellow ** Emerald ore: green ** Treasure: brown * At equal distance between an ore and a treasure, the Sensor shows the color of the ore instead of brown. Larger Inventory * Installation Cost: 6 emeralds * Adds 15 more slots to inventory * Notes: by default the inventory has 45 slots Improvements Details *Improvement that upgrade modules are explained in above section and are neglected below. Player can tap on the icons of improvements at the Factory to see the descriptions of the effects. This part lists slightly more information about improvements. Bombs damage * Max. lv. 20 * Increases the damage of normal bombs. Energy Consumption * Max. 75% * Reduces the amount of energy use by a percentage. Speed Force * Max. lv. 2 * Each level of upgrade increases the duration of the stationary effect of Super Speed by 1 turn. (With no upgrade at all, Super Speed allows the character to have 1 extra turn ahead of enemies. Maximum upgrade gives 3 extra turns, and some armor can further increase it, up to 6 turns) Quick Reflexes * One-time unlocking. No upgrades. * When attacking with weapons with multiples attacks and targeted enemy is killed or out of range before attack ends, deals remaining times of attack to random enemies in range. Teleportation * One-time purchase. No upgrades. * This improvement is an additional effect to Teleportation ability which is unlocked by default. Teleportation Trail allows character to leave a lasting purple mark on the last tile that the character teleported away. The character can teleport to the marked tile without costing a turn. Invisibility * First purchase: unlocks Invisibility ability * Second purchase: (additional effect) Faster movement while Invisibility is activated Shadow Copy * First purchase: unlocks Shadow Copy ability * Second purchase: (additional effect) Increases the health level of the shadow copy by 50% Energy Impulse * First purchase: unlocks Energy Impulse ability * Second purchase: (additional effect) The impulse destroys energy shields with one strike. Emergency Boxes * Respawning using resurrection crystal drops boxes, each contains 3 items in the inventory before death * Default lv. 1 drops 2 boxes. Each upgrade drops 1 more box. Max. lv. 4 drops 5 boxes. Resurrection Crystal efficiency * Saves some items in inventory from losing when respawning using resurrection crystal * Default lv.1 keeps 0 items, lv.2 keeps 3 items, lv.3 keeps 6 items, Max. lv.4 keeps 9 items For beginners: How to spend my emeralds on them wisely? It is completely okay to spend emeralds at will if you do not mind spending time to explore this game. But if you want to speed things up or unlock ability/armors quicker, here are some points that may help. * If you are new to this game, you should first learn more about the gameplay, mechanics, tricks, etc, before unlocking all the ability just because you wanna try them out. After saving up some emeralds and figuring out your own play style that can bring you to locations 3 or 4, upgrade what you think that are fun or able to bring you deeper. * Bombs damage and energy consumption are generally good choices to start spending emerald. Bombs and ability are very flexible at dealing different situations and can work alone. For melee builds player, one or two upgrades in Speed Force can make a huge difference to a new game file. * Think twice before installing module that have little upgrades, do they worth the emeralds for one run only? * Despite that modules only provide mild helps at the start of a new game file, they can be very useful after a moderate extent of upgrading and are necessary if one would like to reach deep locations. And note that after certain times of upgrades, further upgrading some modules may not bring obvious advantages. ** For example, Shock Barrier damage only increase a very tiny bit each upgrading, if that can last hit some ninja, weak skeletons, imps at the highest location you have reached, that is much more than enough. Another Example, if your impulse converter does not have adequate upgrades, upgrading Extended Battery capacity would only keep your energy level far from the cap. On the contrary, without adequate energy cap, high impulse convert ration only can waste your energy. * Impulse converter and enemies sensor are relatively useful for long runs. Impulse converter can generate tremendous amount of energy in total since you will accumulate many lost health points. Enemies sensor are effective against invisible enemies and useful in ruins.